LETTER: Good election for Green candidates

Votes for the Green Party across the South East went up 3.7 per cent in last Thursday’s Parliamentary election (over a quarter of a million people voted Green).

Over a third of deposits were saved (30 out of 83) and the average vote share was 5.2 per cent (1.4 per cent last time).

The biggest share of the vote was in Brighton Pavilion where Caroline Lucas secured 41.8 per cent of votes. She said after this 10.5 per cent rise: “There’s not a moment to lose. Amid the most savage, targeted austerity cuts in modern history, and with parties set on wringing ‘every last drop of oil’ from the North Sea, even as climate change accelerates - the urgency of a strong, clear Green voice in Parliament has never been greater. We will hold Parliament to account and push for real reform – starting with proportional representation, for a politics that looks far more like the people it’s supposed to represent.”

Vix Lowthion in the Isle of Wight received 13.4 per cent share of the vote, one of the highest in the country, and Ann Duncan in Oxford East 11.6 per cent.

Vix Lowthion said: “The strength of support for the Green Party on the island was substantial in the last couple of weeks. We really hit a chord with voters, and have many ideas to put into action in the coming months.”

Ann Duncan said: “We’re very pleased that our campaign led to a five-fold increase compared to 2010. The Green increase (9.2 per cent) was the highest of any party. It reflects clear support for the Green’s agenda in Oxford, and shows that voters who support the party at local elections are increasingly prepared to support it in national polls.”

Alan Francis in Buckingham also received a large share of the vote (13.8 per cent) because he stood in the speaker’s seat, where convention has it that the main parties don’t stand. He added his voice to the Green Party’s national call for proportional representation: “We need proportional representation to ensure that Parliament more accurately reflects the views of the voters. Greens received 1.1 million votes but got just 1 MP. Our electoral system is flawed and needs to be changed before the next general election.”

Most seats showed increases on the 2010 elections when only 3 deposits were saved in the South East.

Jonathan Essex, Chair of the South East Green Party, said: “This was a good year for the Greens in putting up more candidates, giving people the option of voting Green often for the first time, and increasing our share of the vote. The result in Brighton was fantastic and recognition of the huge value of having a Green voice in Parliament.”

In the local elections in Surrey the Greens’ vote share went up over 10 per cent. The Greens gained three seats on Lewes District Council for the first time. In Brighton 11 Greens kept their seats, but the Greens lost minority control of the council.